By Staff

Riddle, Marquez race to COC-Large individual cross country titles

By Dana Harding

Nixa, Mo. — Webb City’s Ryan Riddle and Carthage’s Brianna Marquez each won individual titles during Tuesday’s Central Ozark Conference Large cross country championship.

In the team competition, Webb City boys captured the overall crown with the top two spots and five of the top 20.

In the girls team overall, Nixa appeared to have pulled off a one-point victory over Branson, but a scoring protest uncovered an error in the results which, when corrected, gave the Lady Pirates the win.

CLICK HERE FOR COC-LARGE BOYS MEET PHOTOS
CLICK HERE FOR COC-SMALL GIRLS MEET PHOTOS

Boys Race

Webb City’s Ryan Riddle continued his strong season Tuesday, winning the boys individual race with a time of 15:56:83. Teammate Tadd Capron was second in 16:13:86.

The Cardinals came into the race hoping to bunch as many runners near the front as possible, but plans sometimes have to adapt. When Riddle noticed several other runners sticking with the lead pack, he made an adjustment.

“I just wanted to take out hard that first mile and try to get some separation,” Riddle said. “There were some other guys that took out hard with me, so I decided to break them up and try to help the team out.”

Riddle’s move at the one-mile mark stretched out the lead pack, leaving a group of six to chase Capron.

While the race went out a little fast for Webb City head coach Dustin Miller, he was pleased with his team’s response.

“Our plan was to go out hard,” Miller said. “You have to be able to go out aggressive and still stay under control. It went out a little faster than I had anticipated. More people went with us and pushed the pace, which is good. It’s a really competitive conference.”

Rounding out the top five in a long, sprint finish was Nixa’s Blake Procell (16:19:96), followed closely by Ozark’s Logan Bohannon (16:21:54) and Carthage’s Trenton Starchman (16:22:58).

Girls Race

In the girls race, Carthage’s Brianna Marquez found herself not only racing against a tough conference field, but history as well.

For the past five seasons, Branson has maintained a stranglehold on the individual title with Adeline Holder defending two consecutive firsts in the event.

Both Marquez and Nixa’s Kaitlyn Jones appeared to be laboring to keep pace with Holder at the halfway mark, but the race was just getting started.

“The second lap was really hard,” Marquez said. “At two miles, I was like, ‘It’s all in my head, it’s all in my head,’ then at the mile marker, I saw that I was up there and I thought I might as well go for it. After the mile marker, at the hill … that’s where I passed her and lengthened my stride. She tried to speed up, but she couldn’t.”

Marquez finished in 19:43:42, followed by Jones in 19:51:46 and Holder in 19:59:68.

In the team overall, Nixa appeared to have a one-point victory over Branson, 52-53; however, a scoring protest uncovered an error that left the two teams tied. Two runners in the chute had their times swapped, resulting in an incorrect score for the Lady Pirates.

Branson coach Gary Neal caught the error when his math continued to arrive at a different result.

“We knew if it was in the 50s, it would be a tight race,” Neal said. “I kept thinking how did I mess up the totals. We had back-up cards at the finish line, so we pulled the cards and I re-added the scores with an assistant during the junior varsity race.”

The scoring protest was quickly upheld and corrected, leaving both teams tied at 52 points. The tiebreaker and overall outcome then fell to each team’s sixth runner.

In an already razor-thin outcome, it was only fitting to have both Branson and Nixa runners finish within a single place of one another. Emile Gephart’s 21st-place finish of 21:25:82 was just enough to edge Paige Sportsman’s 21:27:05 and give Branson the slimmest of overall titles.
COC Large XC Boys 5K – Top 20 — CLICK HERE FOR FULL BOYS RESULTS
1. Ryan Riddle Webb City 15:56:83
2. Tadd Capron Webb City 16:13:86
3. Blake Procell Nixa 16:19:96
4. Logan Bohannon Ozark 16:21:54
5. Trenton Starchman Carthage 16:22:58
6. Keifer Dooley Branson 16:28:01
7. Clay Hensley Carthage 16:31:55
8. Kobe Young Nixa 16:36:67
9. Brett Thorton Branson 16:45:62
10. Grant Miller Webb City 16:50:20
11. Benjamin Daniels Nixa 16:58:17
12. Cole Cooper Webb City 17:03:03
13. Clayton Whitehead Carthage 17:17:44
14. Ryan Meadows Nixa 17:20:80
15. Eros Sustaita Nixa 17:23:37
16. Blake Maurer Carthage 17:29:30
17. Trevor Shanks Webb City 17:30:65
18. Cameron Mansker Ozark 17:32:66
19. Bryson Parke Ozark 17:34:23
20. Rafael Rojas Carthage 17:34:60

COC Large XC Boys Team – Top Five
1. Webb City 42
2. Nixa 51
3. Carthage 61
4. Branson 94
5. Ozark 124
COC Large XC Girls 5K – Top 22 — CLICK HERE FOR FULL GIRLS RESULTS
1. Brianna Marquez Carthage 19:43:42
2. Kaitlyn Jones Nixa 19:51:46
3. Adeline Holder Branson 19:59:68
4. Kaitlyn Franks Carl Junction 20:09:07
5. Sydney Pyrah Willard 20:17:74
6. Alexis Barber Ozark 20:27:10
7. Amanda Kearney Branson 20:29:96
8. Madeline Caruthers Branson 20:35:38
9. Annslee Glenn Nixa 20:41:27
10. Kylie Kirby Republic 20:53:25
11. Mackenzie Ihasz Nixa 20:56:58
12. Maegen Derfelt Carl Junction 20:59:67
13. Ryleigh Glenn Nixa 21:00:82
14. Brocklyn Barber Ozark 21:09:84
15. Adrianna Alvard Branson 21:12:99
16. Jenari Lopez Carthage 21:16:26
17. Jessica Kerr Nixa 21:17:61
18. Morgan Brown Carthage 21:19:51
19. Destiny Baylon Branson 21:20:03
20. Brittany Palmer Webb City 21:23:35
21. Emile Gephart Branson 21:25:82
22. Paige Sportsman Nixa 21:27:05